"Having faced criticism even in Kashmir for his irresponsible and anti-national statements, Abdullah has resorted to his time-tested technique of telling lies and spreading falsehood to malign his opponents in the hope of saving his sinking boat," BJP state spokesman Anil Gupta said.

The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP today accused Farooq Abdullah of “spreading falsehood” against his opponents, a day after the National Conference president claimed that the saffron outfit wants to “fragment India”. Abdullah yesterday accused the BJP and the RSS of playing communal politics and claimed they were trying to “fragment India into bits and pieces”.

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“Having faced criticism even in Kashmir for his irresponsible and anti-national statements, Abdullah has resorted to his time-tested technique of telling lies and spreading falsehood to malign his opponents in the hope of saving his sinking boat,” BJP state spokesman Anil Gupta said.

Gupta was referring to Abdullah’s remarks on November 11, when he said that PoK belonged to Pakistan and “this won’t change” no matter how many wars India and Pakistan fight. Yesterday, Abdullah also decried what he said was attempts by the BJP and the RSS to “sow seeds of hatred and mistrust” among communities for political gains.

Gupta said “such an accusation from the president of a party which was born with a communal agenda was tantamount to the ‘pot calling the cattle black'”. “It is an acknowledged fact that apart from theatrics Abdullah has mastered the art of rhetoric, weird statements and falsehood but how dare he refer to it as BJP’s hypocrisy,” Gupta asked.

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“Hypocrisy and deceit are hallmarks of the NC, which was an ally of Indira Gandhi when the Emergency was declared in the country,” he alleged. “Can Farooq Abdullah deny that he was the architect of dividing the electorate on communal lines in 1983 elections, when he forged an alliance with all Kashmiri separatist and religious parties and sowed the seeds of divisive politics in the state?” he said.

The BJP leader also cited Abdullah’s statement during the 2014 elections in the state. Gupta said Abdullah had made statements like “those who voted for (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi should drown in sea” and appealed Muslim voters of the Jammu region to not vote for BJP candidates. “I leave it to the honourable people of J&K to decide which party resorts to communal and divisive politics,” Gupta said.